Photo: Utah Department of Corrections
New DNA testing has prompted Utah prosecutors to reconsider the case against Douglas Stewart Carter, a Black man who spent 41 years in prison for a 1985 murder he has always said he did not commit. Carter, 71, was released on bail Monday (September 28) while he awaits a new trial.
According to The Associated Press, the DNA analysis received by prosecutors on September 22 excluded Carter as a possible match to blood found on a doorknob and genetic material recovered from the handle of the knife used to stab Eva Olesen, a white woman who was also shot in her Provo home.
Carter was convicted and sentenced to death in Olesen’s killing. No physical evidence originally connected him to the crime scene. His conviction relied on a confession he says was coerced and testimony from two witnesses who later recanted.
The witnesses told attorneys they had lied in court and received cash and gifts from police. They also said police and prosecutors threatened them and their son with deportation if they did not implicate Carter, the AP reported.
The Utah Supreme Court ordered a new trial last year after finding “multiple instances of intentional misconduct” by police and a prosecutor.
Prosecutors have withdrawn their plans to seek the death penalty and are reassessing the remaining evidence, the AP reported. Judge Derek Pullan said the DNA results further weakened the case against Carter, although he noted that a jury could still find him guilty.
Carter was released over objections from Olesen’s family. He must wear a GPS monitor and cannot contact the family while awaiting his new trial. Olesen’s daughter-in-law, Theresa Olesen, said the DNA results did not prove Carter was uninvolved. “It doesn’t mean he wasn’t there,” Olesen said. “We just want justice for Eva.”
Carter’s new trial is expected to last two months and is scheduled for next year.
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